Before agreeing with Donald Trump, Google what Saddam Hussein’s son did
Jul 7, 2016, 6:20 AM | Updated: 9:47 am
We all know Donald Trump does a lot of ad libbing. His speeches are like a kid lighting firecrackers – his carelessness with words is matched only by Hillary’s carelessness with emails. It’s earned him the most Pinocchios in the history of fact-checking.
Which is why it’s ironic that so many people are going after him for saying this: “Saddam Hussein was a bad guy. Right? He was a bad guy — really bad guy. But you know what he did well? He killed terrorists. He did that so good. They didn’t read them the rights. They didn’t talk. They were terrorists. Over.”
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Whatever you think about Trump, his statement is accurate. Saddam was much more successful at keeping the peace in Iraq than we were.
I’ll quote what The New York Times wrote in 2006.
“… the monthly death toll of Iraqi civilians estimated … at 3,000 … made some nostalgic even for the oppressive days of Mr. Hussein … credited with keeping the fractious population … from shattering along ethnic lines.”
During my own visit to Baghdad in 2004 when it was starting to fall apart, an Iraqi in my hotel looked at me and said: “if this is freedom give us Saddam.”
So Trump’s statement is accurate. But what Trump never explains is why he brings this up.
Is he implying that this is the approach the U.S. should be adopting? If it is, I think we should know. And he had also better run it by his sons because one of Saddam’s tactics was to send a paramilitary group headed by his son Uday into the streets to — actually, rather than ruin your meal I’ll just let you Google what he would send his son Uday to do.
